Condolences from Vladykas Akakije and Nektari
Serbian True Orthodox Church Hierarchical Council
To our beloved brothers-in-Christ, the hierarchs, His Eminence Archbishop Sophrony and His Grace Bishop Andrei, to the widowed God-saved Diocese of New York and North America, to the clergy, monastics, and all faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
Dear brothers in the Lord, Vladyka Sophrony and Vladyka Andrei,
dear fathers, brothers and sisters, all faithful children of the Russian Diaspora,
With deep pain and great sorrow in our hearts, we received the news that the Lord has called to His eternal dwellings your beloved archpastor and our dear brother in Christ and co-celebrant, His Most Eminent Archbishop Andronik.
On behalf of the Serbian True Orthodox Church, and also in our own names, we express our most sincere condolences on this great and irreplaceable loss for all of True Orthodoxy.
For all of us in Serbia, Vladyka Andronik was not merely a hierarch of a sister Church. He was a living and enduring link to the historical Russian Church Abroad of Saint Filaret the New Confessor, and to the great fathers of the Diaspora, who from the very beginning of our sacred struggle for True Orthodoxy have been our most radiant ideals. His uncompromising refusal of union with the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007, and his subsequent courageous witness to the Truth, will forever remain a shining example of contemporary confession of True Orthodoxy.
We will remember him with heartfelt love and gratitude, for it was he who, through his wise ecclesiastical work and genuine brotherly love, opened the doors to full liturgical and Eucharistic communion with our Serbian Church. Through his person, our Churches were united around the One spiritual Chalice in a shared witness of the Faith.
In these difficult and pivotal moments for your widowed diocese, we wish to assure you that we stand firmly at your side. Should the need arise, at your request we are ready as a sister Church to assist you in any way possible — spiritually, canonically, or administratively — for the sake of preserving the continuity and stability of your Church.
We offer warm prayers to the Savior, that He forgive the newly-departed Archbishop Andronik every transgression, voluntary and involuntary, grant him dwelling in the Heavenly Kingdom, and bestow upon you comfort and spiritual strength to continue his narrow and radiant path of uncompromising True Orthodoxy.
May the Heavenly Kingdom and Eternal Memory be unto His Most Eminent Archbishop Andronik!
With brotherly love in the Risen Christ Jesus,
Akakije, Bishop of Uteshitelevo,
Nektari, Bishop of Šumadija
with the clergy, monastics, and faithful people of the STOC